•Taken from the June 27 Island Dispatch

Fri, Jul 4th 2014 04:45 am

The Grand
Island Lions Club is asking Independence Day parade-goers to step forward and
donate their used eyeglasses and hearing aids to benefit the millions of people
worldwide who cannot afford them.

Look for the
purple and yellow balloons that signal members of the Grand Island Lions Club
approaching during this July 4th's town parade

The Lions will
ship donated eyeglasses and hearing aids to the New Jersey Lions Eyeglass
Recycling Center, where volunteers will clean, obtain the prescription, and
process the eyeglasses where someone needs them to learn, to hold a job, or
possibly see their loved ones for the first time in their lives. Approximately
153 million eyeglasses are needed each year to benefit or change someone's life
all at a cost of just 8 cents apiece from the time they leave the donor to the
time someone receives them.

The hearing
aids are processed at the Finger Lakes Region Hearing Foundation, then returned
to Western New York for use by financially strapped individuals after they have
been evaluated with the cost paid for through Lions Clubs.

For further information, contact Lion Tom Witkowski
at 716-909-1862, or at [email protected].